The Labour Court allowed Tomás O’Riordan’s appeal against University College Cork, set aside the Rights Commissioner’s decision and awarded him €20,000. The determination was dated 3 May 2011.
O’Riordan worked on successive fixed-term contracts on a university research project. He argued that he was entitled to a contract of indefinite duration; UCC said the contracts were justified by project funding and the need to provide research opportunities to successive cohorts.
The Court accepted that aim in general but found it did not justify the renewals in this project’s circumstances. The work, which included books and a website for the Leaving Certificate history syllabus, was not a routine graduate research project and its duration was unclear. The contracts cited continuing funding as the reason for renewal. The Court said a contract for the project’s duration, subject to funding, could have allowed the work to end if funding ran out.
The Court found O’Riordan entitled to a contract of indefinite duration on the same terms from 1 December 2007. As the project had ended, it chose compensation instead of reinstatement or re-engagement, noting that UCC could have made him redundant when funding ceased.